Henman retires.

A place to socialise and share opinions with other members of the BGAFD Community.
fudgeflaps
Posts: 3339
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Henman retires.

Post by fudgeflaps »

Britain's best ever losing semi-finalist:



jj
Posts: 28225
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Henman retires.

Post by jj »

He won about 64% of his career total matches.
Pretty impressive even for a non-Brit.

"a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the
signification...."
Bob Singleton
Posts: 1975
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Henman retires.

Post by Bob Singleton »

So Henman retires from playing tennis. To be honest, I hadn't noticed he'd started!

"But how to make Liverpool economically prosperous? If only there was some way for Liverpudlians to profit from going on and on about the past in a whiny voice."

- Stewart Lee
Bronson Lee
Posts: 762
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Henman retires.

Post by Bronson Lee »

The curse of the Demon of sport advertising,
He never won Wimbledon.
But the advertising guys paid him like he could
and low and behold his incentive was lost,
Goodbye Tim we wont be buying your shirts.

Paradise is for the blessed. Not the sex-obsessed.
mrmcfister
Posts: 1672
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Henman retires.

Post by mrmcfister »

Even when he was at his peak he was a boring player.He never was anything approaching one of the 'greats'.He made a good living fair enough and was a hero to many middle class schoolgirls who liked to shriek around the centre court.To me he was a Brit who reminded me how dire we are at tennis in this country.Read McEnroes book to understand how far Henman was away from being a 'star'.
jj
Posts: 28225
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Henman retires.

Post by jj »

Elton Dong wrote:
> Wimbledon..... his incentive was lost,

Sampras and Federer might argue that he lost noit because he wasn't
trying hard enough but because they were superior players.

"a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the
signification...."
Flat_Eric
Posts: 1859
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Henman retires.

Post by Flat_Eric »

jj wrote:

>>>


Henman was unfortunate that his peak time coincided with Sampras' domination of Wimbledon.

And don't forget that he actually beat Federer in the Wimbledon quarters one year (I think it was the year he lost to Ivanisevic in the semis).

I take your point though - he was always good, but not quite good enough. He was never realistically going to win Wimbledon. I always felt he just lacked that extra edge in aggression and determination that a player needs to win Slams.

If he'd had that mental edge, the much-interrupted semi with Ivanisevic would have gone Henman's way, I feel. And maybe probably he'd then have beaten Rafter in the final.

But he didn't, and so he remained the "nearly man". Made a nice few bob along the way though - at least he'll never have to worry about cashflow.

- Eric

Locked